Reuters

 Reuters Journalism

By Qaqamba Matundu

The 10 fundamentals of journalism practices in Reuters includes accuracy which is a central norm in journalism and is at the heart of journalistic practice. The history of accuracy is closely related to other central concepts in journalism like truthfulness, factuality, and credibility because it raises epistemological questions of whether and how journalism is capable of depicting reality accurately, truthfully and based on facts. Accuracy plays a particularly significant role in the factuality of the journalists not only to ground their reporting on facts but check whether the presented facts are true or not. Accuracy is an important standard to determine the quality of the news reporting.

Perceives report as “In journalistic capacity, making mistakes are not good. Your mistake can be a typo or some oversight that may be seen insignificant, words matter, and words have consequences. The only ethical option would be to address the mistake, make corrections, learn from it, and become more adapt at making fewer mistakes. We should take pride in our ability to recognize our mistakes and hold ourselves to a higher standard of accountability.” (Ochs,2022)

According to a report by Law (2019), journalists do not always witness events as they happen like robbery, car crashing, people dying, committed crime or politicians up to no good, so they rely on help that comes from eyewitnesses to tell their stories. Sometimes people take risks and give information to the journalist, that is why it is important to protect your source from being a public enemy. A person can lose his/her life so they must be kept safe.

In objective journalism, stories must be balanced in the sense of attempting to present all sides of a story. Fairness means that a journalist should strive for accuracy and truth in reporting and not slant a story, so a reader draws the reporter's desired conclusion.

Reports as, “A conflict of interest arises when someone who is expected to act impartially has a personal stake in an issue (emotional, financial, etc.). In every case, conflict of interest is a problem-even if nobody misbehaves.” (Jerz,2009). That is why I believe revealing a conflict of interest to the manager is always important.

Confidential sources have been referred to as one form of currency that journalists use to get what they want and need, which is information. Once a source is burned, they will not give information again.

Today’s journalism, journalists fuse news stories with their individual opinions. That is not their job. They are supposed to report a neutral set of facts upon which the reader can make their own decisions and opinions.

Reports as, “Plagiarism and fabrication are two things that a journalist, or any other writer should never do. Using someone else’s work and passing it off as your own or intentionally creating something like a quote or scene setting that often used to advance the storytelling in an article are journalism crimes, they are ethically and morally wrong.”

Improving the quality and the information content of the original data before processing must never be done on still moving images beyond the requirements of normal image enhancement.

According to a report by Out-law-news (2011) bribery is illegal says the rule of law. There is no public interest defense for bribery law, says justice secretary.

When it comes to the four main categories of journalism in Reuters, firstly it is reported that, “” “Accuracy means that our images and stories must reflect reality. Reuters is transparent about errors. We correct them promptly and clearly, whether in a story a caption, graphic or script. Independence is the essence of our reputation as a stateless global news organization and fundamental to the trust that allows us to report impartially from all sides of a conflict or dispute. Reuters would not be Reuters without freedom from bias. This neutrality is a hallmark of our news brand and allows us to work on all sides of an issue, conflict, or dispute without any agenda other than accurate, fair reporting. Integrity requires us to adhere to the highest ethical standard of our profession and to the values enshrined in The Reuters Trust Principles. All employees have a responsibility to ensure that the reputation of Reuters retains its high standing with whomever we come into contact with.” (Reuters Journalism pdf)

My analysis on how these practices affect a person as a journalist and/or an editor is that they must get stories first and get it right when it comes to accuracy. Which brings to my attention independence. Being not under control or working with others can lead to misinformation and fake news. All employees have a responsibility to ensure that the reputation of Reuters retains its high standing with whomever we contact with.

They are relevant within the South African context because Reuters aim is to report the facts not rumors. Clients rely on us to differentiate between facts and rumors and our reputation rests partly on that. As a journalist we have an obligation to convey the reality of what we report accurately, yet a duty to be aware that such material can cause distress, damage the dignity of the individuals concerned or even in some cases so overpower the viewer or reader that a rational understanding of the facts is impaired.

We must always strive to be scrupulously fair and balanced. Allegations should not be portrayed as facts; charges should not be conveyed as a sigh of guilt we have a duty of fairness to give the subject of such stories the opportunity to put their side.